There are only 6 days left for you to leave your public comment on the ELD mandate. The FMCSA will be accepting comments until February 1st on a proposed Hours of Service exemption for drivers with a proven record of safety.
Read our definitive 3-minute guide on how to leave a comment. It’s quick and easy and you will have your voice heard! Class A Drivers even left our own comment. We believe truck drivers deserve better than the current ELD mandate.
William Pearson (pictured above) a CDL instructor with 25+ years experience behind the wheel followed our guide. You can read his message below. And don’t forget to leave your own message. There’s only SIX DAYS LEFT!
William’s Public Comment:
I am a state licensed CDL instructor with over 30 years of safe driving experience and a freelance writer for the trucking industry with ClassADrivers.com. Class A Drivers is a community of over 300000 truck drivers. I support OOIDAs proposed ELD exemption for small trucking carriers and independent drivers with a proven record of safety.
An ELD cannot replace a driver’s judgement or skills.
The best way to improve safety is to select CMV driver candidates after careful thought who are more likely to follow state and federal regulations from the very beginning at the CDL permit level.
Current CDL training at most schools and colleges is assembly line (CDL MILL) based. Training is determined by a school’s profit expectations. Although current methods may meet bare minimum federal and state standards they do not encourage learning. Students are being rushed through all portions of skills maneuverability and road training and many are not being properly prepared for the CDL skills test. Current training methods do not prepare students to work for carriers in the real world once they have obtained a CDL. For example there have been students who during their training did not learn to properly couple and uncouple a trailer which is very basic and something every class A driver that holds a CDL should understand.
Suggestions to improve safety across our nation’s highways:
Recognition should be given to drivers who maintain a safe driving record. Appreciation should take the form of financial rewards not a cheap pizza party or a mug with the company name on it. Patronizing trinkets such as these have the potential to be not only insulting but counter productive.
Software developers should design ELDs to be flexible in order to accommodate real world scenarios. Devices should not be designed as all or nothing in HOS compliance. There are too many factors that affect a driver’s HOS at shippers and during transport. The only way to manage transport expectations is to employ better logistics when designing runs that will permit drivers to comply with HOS regulations. In the past collective bargaining had a positive effect on the pay of trucking industry workers. Drivers are working more hours and being paid less today than in years prior to the deregulation of the trucking industry. Since unionization is no longer an option for many drivers they need better pay options.
CDL training institutions should be required to extend their training programs beyond the bare minimum requirement of 3-4 weeks.